Thuglak editor S. Gurumurthy on Friday alleged that a scam was brewing in the Tamil Nadu Congress Charitable Trust and claimed that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s aide Kanishka Singh was now controlling the Trust’s properties. The TNCC vehemently denied the charge.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Mr. Gurumurthy claimed “the scam is 10 times the National Herald fraud”. He also asked “what trustees like G.K. Vasan and Jayanthi Natarajan” were doing about this. But both of them, who left the Congress to revive the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), are no longer part of the Trust. Mr. Vasan confirmed to The Hindu that he was no longer a Trustee.

Mr. Gurumurthy alleged that the administration of the Trust had been taken over by the party high command in Delhi. “In 2009, the trustees were called to Delhi by Rahul Gandhi and asked to sign some papers. They didn’t know what the papers were. They were called to Delhi by Rahul Gandhi. At that time only they were trying to take over National Herald and were trying to confiscate the State properties,” Mr. Gurumurthy told The Hindu. The Trust's properties are worth ₹15,000-20,000 crore, he said. “I am told that they were also trying to build a multi-storey building on the Mount Road property (Teynampet Congress grounds). Now I understand work has been given to an architect in Mumbai. The builder is from Chennai,” he alleged. Mr. Gurumurthy said the party has entered into an MoU to give 40% of the property to a builder and 60% to the Congress with five floors for unnamed persons.

But several persons in the TNCC and the Trust said this plan was mooted by the late G.K. Moopanar and his colleagues back in 1995 but was dropped. Members of the TNCC, and TMC leaders — former TNCC presidents G.K. Vasan and B.S. Gnanadesikan, and E.M. Sudarsana Nachiappan, who is one of the lifetime trustees of the Trust — said the Trust properties cannot be used for any purpose other than what is mentioned in the Trust Deeds, which consists of charitable activities such as education and some medical grants. Both Mr. Vasan and Mr. Gnanadesikan said there was no interference from Delhi in the Trust’s activities during their tenures, but are not aware what happened after they left the party. TNCC president K.S. Alagiri said the charges made by Mr. Gurumurthy were baseless. “All the Trust’s activities are overseen by the Trustees. As TNCC president, I am still signing all the necessary documents,” he said.

E.M. Sudarsana Nachiappan, who is one of the lifetime trustees of the Trust, said all the Trustees are appointed by the Executive Committee of the TNCC. “Even Motilal Vohra was nominated by the executive committee. AICC has no role in the nominations and audited statements are given every year,” he said.

Mr. Nachiappan said Mr. Gurumurthy’s claims about the multi-storeyed complex were not true. “The property of the Trust cannot be used for anything other than what is enshrined in the Trust Deeds, which says that it can be used only to generate income for charitable activities,” he said.